Michigan at Penn State

Written by Steve Janus

This Saturday the Michigan Wolverines will look to get back on track when they go on the road to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions. After starting the season 5-0, the Wolverines have lost two straight against Michigan State and Iowa, but are coming off their bye week and should have quarterback Denard Robinson back from injury. The Nittany Lions snapped a two game skid with a 33-21 win over Minnesota last week, but may be without freshman starting quarterback Robert Bolden. If you are thinking about betting on the game this weekend, the current college football odds have the Wolverines favored by 3-points over the Nittany Lions on the road.

Michigan (5-2, 1-2 Big Ten): This is a very important game for the Wolverines and head coach Rich Rodriguez, as they need to start winning games in conference play. Under Rodriguez the Wolverines are 4-15 in the Big Ten. they also need the win to become bowl eligible for the first time under Rodriguez, but you know Michigan fans expect a lot more than just a bowl game.

In their last game against Iowa the Wolverines got off to a slow start, trailing 28-7 going into the fourth quarter. With Robinson out with an injury in the third, backup Tate Forcier led the Wolverines to 21 fourth quarter points, but it wasn’t enough to take home the win. Robinson is expected to be back in action this week, but if he struggles, don’t be surprised to see Rodriguez turn to Forcier.

Defensively the Wolverines are still struggling to get things figured out, and with the way they are playing no lead is safe for the Wolverines.

Penn State (4-3, 1-2 Big Ten): After two straight losses to Iowa and Illinois, the Nittany Lions finally got on the board in conference play with a win over Minnesota, but even then they weren’t all that impressive.

Bolden was off to a great start, going 11 of 13 for 130 yards and a touchdown, before suffering a head injury in the second quarter. Backup Matt McGloin completed his first pass of the game for a 42 yard touchdown to Derek Moye, and then later connected with Moye again on a 9 yard strike for a score, but finished the game just 6 of 13 for 76 yards and also had an interception. It remains unclear whether or not Bolden will be able to play this Saturday.

Freshman running back Silas Redd led the Nittany Lions with 71 yards on nine carries, and senior Evan Royster added 62 on 10 attempts. There is a good chance Royster will break the school rushing record this weekend, as he needs just 31 yards to top Curt Warner.

Defensively the Nittany Lions have been banged up with injuries, and while they held the Golden Gophers to just three scores last week, they gave up 433 yards of total offense. If they play like that this week, Robinson is going to have 500 yards of total offense all by himself.

Looking at the Odds: I’m not a huge fan of taking road favorites in the Big Ten, but this is one of those games where I think you have to be all over the Wolverines to cover. Penn State simply isn’t a very good football team, and with the defense hurting they really don’t have much on either side of the ball. My final score prediction is Michigan 38, Penn State 27.

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